Something that popped up on YouTube:
Rusty
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Though not publicized, two riders could ride in the cab. I always walked to the front and got in every time. There was an Oldsmobile dashboard inside.
Cool find! I had no idea that thing ever existed. Shame they ended up being scrapped. I wonder if it was an intentional act to preserve brand identity. Some parks, especially Disney and Universal, don't want any of their historical kitsch to make it out into the public so it's frequently destroyed right when it's decommissioned. But I suppose back then it was also just a case of "these things are taking up space in the shop. What are we gonna do with them?
Nice video.
@Number 90 posted:Though not publicized, two riders could ride in the cab. I always walked to the front and got in every time. There was an Oldsmobile dashboard inside.
I think you can still ask to do this (hopefully, at least when they eventually re-open) for the Monorail at Disneyland. I did it in either 2016 or 2018, I think. Getting that front view was pretty cool!
They don't allow it at Walt Disney World at this point, most likely due to the accidental collision a while back that killed a Cast Member (employee).
-Dave
@Jeff_the_Coaster_Guy posted:Cool find! I had no idea that thing ever existed. Shame they ended up being scrapped. I wonder if it was an intentional act to preserve brand identity. Some parks, especially Disney and Universal, don't want any of their historical kitsch to make it out into the public so it's frequently destroyed right when it's decommissioned. But I suppose back then it was also just a case of "these things are taking up space in the shop. What are we gonna do with them?
Nice video.
Could be, but we need to remember this was way back when the park was only a year or two old! While the park was certainly known to be a success shortly after opening, it's years before it became anything close to the way it is in present day.
They haven't controlled everything, some things have been auctioned off to the "public". It's pretty well known that John Stamos has the old Disneyland sign that was removed when they built California Adventure in the old parking lot, I believe. And I seem to recall at some point seeing that at least one monorail car had been out in the public somehow.
Agreed for a lot of things though. Ride vehicles particularly. Those they seem to control and make sure none "escape" into the public's hands.
{edited to remove my incorrect perception based on further discussions below}
-Dave
@Trinity River Bottoms Boomer posted:Really a rare find. Thanks for sharing.
If there are any monorail modelers here at OGR, please let us know ASAP!
I don't "model" technically, but have several of the monorail toy sets, as well as the major park "icon" accessories to go with them.
-Dave
They won't allow riders in the front cab at Disney World after the accident a few years ago.
My son and grandson were able to ride up front a few times before they stopped after the accident.
Pretty neat experience
Ah, the Viewliner (Aerotrain). It's interesting that a ride that was in place just over a year is remembered by so many. They did a good job with the model. Sad that it didn't survive or get sold off to another park. Supposedly, the cab door is hanging up in the Disneyland Railroad train/monorail barn.
I don't recall seeing a Viewliner cab door in the roundhouse, but there is a section of the old Mark I monorail featuring the Santa Fe logo.
@Dave45681 posted:Agreed for a lot of things though. Ride vehicles particularly. Those they seem to control and make sure none "escape" into the public's hands.
-Dave
Oh, you'd be surprised how many different Disney ride vehicles (even some Disney steam locomotives) have made it into private hands.
@smd4 posted:Oh, you'd be surprised how many different Disney ride vehicles (even some Disney steam locomotives) have made it into private hands.
If you have some inside info concerning this we would all like to know.
@smd4 posted:I don't recall seeing a Viewliner cab door in the roundhouse, but there is a section of the old Mark I monorail featuring the Santa Fe logo.
I thought Jeff R. had mentioned a Viewliner door, but I may have recalled incorrectly.
@Arthur posted:If you have some inside info concerning this we would all like to know.
There's nothing "inside" about it. Van Eaton Galleries has auctioned off plenty of ride vehicles over the years, everything from PeopleMover cars, Skyway buckets, even a Space Mountain ride vehicle (several of their catalogs are viewable on line, if you want to see for yourself). All four Ft. Wilderness steam locomotives are in private hands, in various stages of restoration. Five of the original six clerestory-roofed passenger cars (which can be seen occasionally in the video above) are in private hands--and some of them you can still ride today on a private railroad in CA.
There are thousands upon thousands of original props, costume pieces, and concept art out there. I've even got a section of a Disneyland Railroad tender with a hand-painted engine number that was salvaged by one of the restorers.
@AGHRMatt posted:I thought Jeff R. had mentioned a Viewliner door, but I may have recalled incorrectly.
I don't think the Roundhouse at that time was tasked with maintenance of the Viewliner, so there would be very little "connection" for a Viewliner piece to be kept (the Roundhouse back then was run by an actual former roundhouse foreman for the KCS, and I doubt he had his crew working on any infernal combustion engines).
@AGHRMatt posted:Sad that it didn't survive or get sold off to another park.
The video mentions that Disney tried to donate it to the Dodgers Stadium operators to use as a parking lot tram to no avail.
Rusty
It is kind of ironic that the Disney Viewliner ended up like the real life one, basically something destined to be used only for a short time. With the Disney version it was intended all along as a stop gap, they had an open space that needed filling and it was relatively cost effective to lay track and build the trains they needed (repurposing GM cars in the process), I think the real trains outlived the Disney trains by like a year. The stories I have read or seen about it say that Disney had them sitting in their back lot until the 1970's then scrapped them. From what I have been told Disney doesn't routinely sell off old stuff from the parks to collectors (they have sold off rides and such they have taken down to other park operators over the years) is that they are worried both about liability and also don't want to be involved in having to authenticate ex pieces of gear when inevitable fakes show up out there in the collectors market (and note, I am not claiming personal expertise, just what I have heard from a number of people over the years, including a couple of people who worked for Disney corporate for a while)
@bigkid posted:From what I have been told Disney doesn't routinely sell off old stuff from the parks to collectors (they have sold off rides and such they have taken down to other park operators over the years) is that they are worried both about liability and also don't want to be involved in having to authenticate ex pieces of gear when inevitable fakes show up out there in the collectors market (and note, I am not claiming personal expertise, just what I have heard from a number of people over the years, including a couple of people who worked for Disney corporate for a while)
Disney often isn't involved with "selling off" old stuff from the parks. But it does happen. "Disney Corporate" is completely unaware of how most of the stuff gets on the collector market. But as I stated, tens of thousands of actual "pieces of the parks," including dozens of ride vehicles, are currently in private collections.
It's similar to railroadiana collecting. You think "X Railroad Corporate" knew about all those lanterns, whistles, and builder's plates, sometimes even rolling stock, getting into private hands?
I wonder if it is like finding a US Navy ship, in that it still belongs to the Navy.
I like the '55 Chevy in the first part.
The Oregon Zoo has a beautiful mini-aerotrain as well: https://www.oregonzoo.org/visi...park-and-zoo-railway
Pretty cool and interesting bit of history. Thank-you for posting.
@smd4 posted:Disney often isn't involved with "selling off" old stuff from the parks. But it does happen. "Disney Corporate" is completely unaware of how most of the stuff gets on the collector market. But as I stated, tens of thousands of actual "pieces of the parks," including dozens of ride vehicles, are currently in private collections.
It's similar to railroadiana collecting. You think "X Railroad Corporate" knew about all those lanterns, whistles, and builder's plates, sometimes even rolling stock, getting into private hands?
Reading the comments under the linked video, someone claims in at least two reply comments that the train was not actually scrapped, but acquired by an anonymous collector in the Northwest.
---PCJ
@RailRide posted:Reading the comments under the linked video, someone claims in at least two reply comments that the train was not actually scrapped, but acquired by an anonymous collector in the Northwest.
---PCJ
Bruce Gordon and David Mumford, two former Disney Imagineers, write in their seminal work, The Nickel Tour, "After spending ten times longer in storage than they had in use, the trains were finally declared worthless and were dispatched for the last time--to join the many other memorable Disneyland attractions that have been dismantled, cut up and dumped in the scrap heap."
